arg ob

• Teleological argument: Aquinas' design argument - The Fifth Way 



  the world has order and purpose

  no non-living thing can have its own purpose - the sun does not decide to rise yet it does - it has no mind - it is purposeful with the aid of a 'guiding hand' - God

  arrow analogy - if we see an arrow flying towards a target (purpose), we would know that someone has aimed and fired it

  • when we look at the world around us, we can attribute it purposiveness to the 'guiding hand' of God
  • everything in nature which moves but has no intelligence must be directed to its goal by God
• Teleological argument: Aquinas' design argument - The Fifth Way 


  we can gain knowledge of God through revelation - where God chooses to reveal the truth to people - eg the Bible

  
  

  we can also gain knowledge of God through observation of the world and human reason (God-given) - supporting both revealed and natural theology
• Eval for Aquinas' cosmological arg

  Hume: Problem of induction

  David Hume questioned if everything has a cause, humans assume this but we cannot prove it.

  We assume a relationship between cause and effect because our minds have developed a habit of doing so.

  Therefore we make a connection between two events that happen to link them together, but in reality they could just be two separate events.

  This means that when we observe cause and effect in the world, it might not actually exist.

  Induction = forming an argument based on our experience.
• challenge evolution -teleological arg


  the odds are stacked against each outcome

  so many different possible events that could occur

  • but something has to happen, out of all the different possibilities - the fact that the odds were against it doesn’t necessarily rule out the possibility of chance

  Darwin – No need for God to explain apparent order

  Some argue that evolution shows design and purpose. Darwin concluded that evolution does not need a designer to start the process or control the process. Natural selection is the same as the result of wind blowing things in a certain way.
• challenge evolution - teleological

  Dawkins – No need for God to explain complexity - chance

  Evolution is not totally random, it is cumulative

  Eg why polar bears have thicker fur - evolution and adapting to environments

  Natural selection suggests that chance mutation of genes accounts for gradual changes in characteristics of species - eg basic light-sensitive cells to an eye (complex)

  Ockham’s razor

  simplest explanation = chance and not God

  Chance can account for order and design rather than the assumption of God